No.  709. 


N v Avvi ex-  ~5 


The  Church 
Among  the 
Negroes 


The  Church  Among  the  Negroes 

By  the  REVEREND  SAMUEL  H.  BISHOP 

THE  work  of  the  Church  for  the  Negroes 
in  this  country  began  in  the  personal  care 
and  training  of  slaves  by  their  masters 
and  particularly  by  their  mistresses.  In  the  old 
registry  of  Bruton  Parish  we  find  thirty-three 
consecutive  pages  devoted  entirely  to  the  record 
of  baptism  of  slaves  or  colored  servants.  This 
record  extends  from  1746  to  1797.  During  that 
period  there  were  1,122  Negroes  baptized;  and 
during  the  year  1750  the  record  of  baptism  of 
Negroes  in  Bruton  Parish  alone  was  larger  by 
one  than  the  total  number  of  infant  and  adult 
baptisms  of  Negroes  in  the  Diocese  of  Southern 
Virginia  during  the  year  1903.  In  1724,  the  Rev. 
William  Beach  reported  to  the  Bishop  of  London 
that  he  instructed  and  baptized  (during  fifteen 
years)  200  slaves,  and  that  the  owners  of  slaves 
are  generally  careful  to  bring  them  to  baptism. 
In  spite  of  all  the  faults  of  slavery,  during  the 
existence  of  that  system  in  the  south  there  was 
carried  on  the  most  successful  missionary  activity 
ever  known  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion ; and  this  activity  was  not  merely  incidental 
or  without  due  thought  and  purpose.  Bishop 
Meade  of  Virginia  delegated  some  of  his  most 
talented  clergymen  such  as  Casleman  and  Gib- 
son, to  instruct  the  Negroes  and  to  preach  care- 
fully prepared  sermons  to  them;  and  Dr. 
Hanckel.  one  of  the  eminent  clergymen  of  South 

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Carolina,  did  the  same  work  in  that  State.  The 
results  of  such  work  are  evidenced  in  such  statis- 
tics as  those  given  for  Bruton  Parish  and  in 
statistics  of  parishes  like  St.  Michael's  and  St. 
Philip’s,  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  In  St. 
Michael’s  record  for  the  year  1818,  there  were 
registered  130  colored  communicants  to  350 
white;  and  in  St.  Philip’s  for  the  same  year,  180 
colored  to  320  white  communicants.  In  1856 
there  were  in  the  diocese  3,022  colored  to  2,971 
white  comunicants. 

The  real  fact  is  that  notwithstanding  the 
moral  wrong  of  slavery,  the  Christian  people 
of  the  South  felt  deeply  their  responsibility 
for  the  moral  and  religious  training  of  the 
Negroes;  and  to  some  measure  of  fulfillment  of 
that  responsibility  is  due  the  fact  that  the 
Negroes  acquired  during  that  period  so  much 
of  ethical  character  and  of  the  spirit  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  to  enable  the  best  of  them  to  become 
teachers  of  their  teachers,  and  to  make  all  of  them 
capable  of  the  generous  fidelity  they  manifested 
during  the  war.  It  was  not  infrequent  in  religious 
families  of  the  South  to  find  a white  haired, 
saintly  old  Negro  ministering  in  the  things  of 
God  to  white  and  black  alike. 

There  is  no  way  of  ascertaining  definitely 
what  proportion  of  the  Negroes  in  this  land  were 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war  between  the  states 
baptized  members  of  the  Church.  In  1859  there 
were  recorded  468.000  members  of  the  various 
churches  in  the  South,  of  which  it  is  perhaps 

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fair  to  assume  that  more  than  50,000  were 
baptized  members  of  our  Church.  There  are  now 
about  18,000  communicants  in  the  whole  Church, 
ten  independent  parishes,  and  about  200  chapels 
and  missions.  On  the  other  hand  the  Methodist 
and  Baptist  bodies  alone  have  nearly  4,000,000 
colored  members  and  influence  eighty  per  cent,  of 
the  total  negro  population. 

Of  course  such  statistics  are  not  wholly 
reliable  as  to  the  inferences  they  suggest,  but 
they  do  indicate  among  other  things  that  a new 
sense  of  responsibility  is  necessary  if  the  Church 
is  to  be  of  any  real  assistance  to  the  Negro  and 
to  the  nation. 

From  the  time  when  the  Rev.  Absalom 
Jones,  the  first  Negro  ordained  to  the  ministry 
of  the  C hurch  in  this  country,  began  his  work  in 
Philadelphia  in  1795,  to  the  present  time,  much 
devoted  and  heroic  work  has  been  done ; but 
the  present  conditions  must  be  unsatisfactory  to 
anyone  who  loves  and  believes  in  the  Church,  and 
who  realizes  how  critical  is  the  need  of  the 
Negro  people  in  this  land,  and  how  serious  the 
Negro  problem  is  likely  to  be,  unless  the  Christian 
forces  in  the  country  shall  awaken  to  the  fact 
that  this  problem  like  all  of  our  great  social 
problems,  requires  not  so  much  a solvent  as  a 
solver.  That  Solver  we  believe  to  be  Jesus 
Christ;  and  notwithstanding  the  smallness  of  our 
numbers  we  believe  the  Church  has  a peculiar 
work  to  do,  one  of  which  many  of  the  best 
colored  people  are  conscious  and  which  they 


desire  to  see  her  do.  Among-  the  reasons  for  this 
belief  are : The  national  character  of  the  Church, 
her  organization,  her  ethical  standards,  her 
appeal  to  a normal  sense  of  form,  and  her  medial 
position  among  the  churches. 

What  the  Church  is  Doing 

The  Church  is  establishing  Sunday  and 
Parish  Schools  in  places  where  they  are  most 
needed. 

A devoted  priest  in  Savannah  established  the 
first  kindergarten  for  Xegro  children  in  the  State 
of  Georgia ; out  of  that  a good  parish  school  has 
grown  and  more  than  250  persons  have  been 
baptized  and  confirmed  in  nine  years.  The 
parish  is  self-supporting  and  free  of  debt.  Our 
parish  schools,  of  which  there  are  many  doing 
work  similar  to  that  done  by  the  Savannah  school, 
have  attracted  the  favorable  and  admiring  atten- 
tion of  the  officers  of  the  Southern  Education 
Board  and  of  the  Jeanes  Fund.  There  are  ten 
such  schools  in  the  Diocese  of  Southern  Virginia, 
all  in  places  where  such  schools  are  needed,  not 
only  because  of  the  inspiration  the  Church  can 
give,  hut  because  proper  school  facilities  are  not 
adequate.  The  same  is  true  of  the  five  schools 
in  North  Carolina  and  of  the  sixteen  in  South 
Carolina.  Under  the  leadership  of  Bishop 
Guerry  and  Archdeacon  Cornish  a most  valuable 
work  is  being  done  in  South  Carolina,  in  which 
white  Church  people  are  interesting  themselves 
and  to  which  they  are  giving  earnest  service. 

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Mrs.  Willet,  the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mor- 
gan, once  rector  of  St.  Thomas’s  Church,  New 
Yfork,  is  doing  a quiet  but  beautiful  work  at 
Brook  Green;  and  the  work  which  Miss  Tucker 
carried  on  for  thirty-five  years  at  Plantersville, 
is  now  being  conducted  by  Miss  Sparkmanu.  It 
was  from  Miss  Tucker,  under  God,  that  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Grice  got  the  inspiration  which  sent 
him  out  as  a peculiarly  successful  worker  for 
Christ  and  his  people.  Mr.  Grice's  church  and 
school  at  Spartanburg,  South  Carolina,  both  of 
which  were  begun  by  the  present  Bishop  of 
Mississippi,  have  steadily  grown  in  importance 
and  usefulness;  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Grice  evince 
that  kind  of  practical  Christianity  which  makes 
the  Church  of  essential  value  to  the  colored 
people.  In  addition  to  the  Church  and  day-school 
work  they  conduct  a night  school  for  hoys  who 
would  otherwise  be  on  the  street.  Money  is 
greatly  needed  for  a church  building. 

Mr.  Perry’s  work  at  Tarboro,  North  Caro- 
lina, was  described  in  The  Spirit  of  Missions 
for  August,  1906,  and  is  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing of  our  Church’s  activities.  There  are  now 
eighty  communicants,  ninety-two  pupils  in  the 
Sunday-school  and  179  in  the  parochial  school. 
Mr.  Perry’s  son,  a graduate  of  St.  Augustine’s 
and  of  Yale,  is  principal  of  the  Negro  public 
school  and  is  also  helping  his  father  in  night 
school.  He  has  refused  other  offers  at  better 
salary  because  he  thinks  his  duty  is  there.  This 
last  summer  he  paid  his  own  way  to  New  York 


and  took  normal  training  at  the  Teacher’s  College, 
in  order  to  introduce  some  industrial  work  into 
the  public  school  and  into  the  parochial  school. 

But  time  and  space  forbid  further  speci- 
fication. The  foregoing  is  enough  to  show  the 
nature  of  the  work  the  Church  is  trying  to  do 
all  over  the  south  and  the  possibilities  which  lie 
at  our  hand. 

The  Church  is  using  godly  and  practical 
archdeacons. 

No  finer  and  more  devoted  missionaries  are 
at  work  in  any  field  than  our  colored  archdeacons. 
The  work  of  Archdeacon  Russell  of  Southern 
Virginia  is  not  confined  to  St.  Paul's  School,  but 
is  equally  valuable  throughout  the  diocese.  Arch- 
deacon Delancv  of  North  Carolina,  for  many 
years  vice-presilent  of  St.  Augustine's  School,  is 
preaching  a gospel  of  pure  religion  and  of  self 
respect  and  intelligent  toil.  If  he  finds  the  water 
bad  where  he  is  being  entertained,  on  Mondav 
morning  he  starts  the  family  cleaning  the  well 
or  digging  a new  one;  if  crops  are  poor,  gardens 
waste,  meat  bought  and  not  home-raised,  tactful 
suggestions  as  to  seed  selecting,  garden  planting, 
chicken  and  pig"  raising  are  given;  and  the  in- 
stances are  multiplying  of  profit  from  his  sugges- 
tions. Archdeacon  Avant  of  East  Carolina,  a 
real  statesman  as  well  as  a devoted  priest,  is  a 
practical  trained  nurse  and  a carpenter;  and 
more  than  one  church  building  has  been  erected 
and  more  than  one  human  life  saved  by  his  hand 
work  and  his  loving  skill.  Archdeacon  Bright 


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of  Georgia  (recently  appointed),  who  did  such 
yeoman  service  in  Savannah,  already  alluded  to, 
and  Archdeacon  Henderson  of  Atlanta,  are  also 
both  loving  and  wise.  Next  to  the  schools  there 
is  no  force  in  the  south  of  more  possible  social 
and  religious  efficiency  than  our  archdeacons,  and 
they  are  illustrating  that  possibility. 

Do  the  Negroes  Want  and  Need  the  Church  ? 

There  is  room  for  only  four  brief  answers, 
the  first  of  which  is  a quotation  from  a letter  of 
the  Rev.  J.  S.  Quarles  of  Columbia,  S.  C. : 

“In  reply  to  your  letter  will  say  my  work  is 
very  encouraging: — Number  of  communicants 
130,  number  of  Sunday-school  children  200,  day- 
school  children  336,  number  of  unchurched 
colored  people  in  the  community  about  3.500.  My 
methods  of  reaching  the  people  are  many:  First 
I try  to  teach  them  through  the  services.  Again, 
I reach  them  through  the  Sunday-school,  and  the 
day-school,  mothers'  meetings,  young  men’s  clubs, 
guilds  and  societies:  Value  of  property  is  about 

Sio.ooo.  There  is  not  an  industrial  school  in 
Columbia.  What  we  need  here  is  to  teach  our 
people  to  work.  I feel  it  a duty  to  teach  them  to 
help  themselves,  and  when  we  get  to  the  place 
that  we  can  not  go,  then  call  on  the  Church. 
Last  summer  I took  the  few  faithful,  and  built 
the  present  St.  Mary’s  which  cost  us  $6,000.  My 
people  have  paid  the  most  of  the  debt.  I have 
already  told  them  that  they  will  have  the  whole 
debt  to  pay.  A ery  few  people  have  aided  us  in 


9 


u 

z 


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St.  Luke’s  Parochial  School,  Takboko, 


our  great  struggle,  but  the  good  Lord  will  fix  it 
all  right  one  day.” 

The  second  answer  is  a little  tale.  A few 
years  ago  a boy  graduated  from  St.  Paul's  School 
and  went  to  a northern  Virginia  town  to  engage 
in  business  as  a barber.  He  had  been  under 
Church  influence  at  St.  Paul’s,  and  in  the  town 
in  which  he  went  to  live  there  was  no  church  and 
a very  needy  Negro  population.  He  saved  his 
earnings,  bought  a lot  and  paid  for  it  out  of  his 
own  earnings;  continued  saving  money,  built  a 
church  almost  entirely  out  of  his  own  savings, 
conducted  Sunday-school,  gathered  together  a 
hundred  pupils,  started  a day-school  and  still  out 
of  his  own  pocket  hired  a teacher.  He  has  now  a 
parochial  school  of  200  children  besides  the 
Sunday-school,  and  has  only  recently  asked  for 
help.  This  tale,  though  unique  in  the  amount  of 
self-sacrifice,  has  more  than  one  analopw  in  spirit 
and  in  effort. 

The  third  answer  is  the  fact  that  three 
ministers  from  other  bodies  have  come  into  the 
Church  with  their  congregations,  and  have  served 
over  two  years  without  pay,  though  they  have 
had  offers  of  larger  salaries  if  they  would  return 
to  their  former  allegiance.  This  incident  is  illus- 
trative of  a devotion  to  the  Church  which  is 
characteristic  of  a large  number  of  our  people. 

The  fourth  answer  is  that  the  Negro  com- 
municants of  the  Diocese  of  Georgia,  numbering 
696,  contributed  during  the  year  1908-1909, 
$3,829.91  for  Church  purposes;  and  the  799 

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parochial  and  industrial  school  students  contrib- 
uted for  their  own  education  $3,395.40,  making 
a total  contribution  from  the  colored  constituency 
of  the  Church  in  the  Diocese  of  Georgia  of 
$7,225.31. 

A few  gifts  of  $500  each  will  strengthen  old 
work  or  establish  new  in  many  places.  Any  sum 
helps.  Will  you  help  us? 


Use  this  coupon  in  sending  your  gift.  Do  it 

to-day. 


To  George  Gordon  King,  Treasurer, 

281  Fourth  Avenue 
New  York. 

I desire  to  aid  in  furthering  the  Church’s  work  among 
the  Negroes,  and  enclose  $ for  that  purpose. 

Name. ' . 


Address 


Town 


Parish 

Copies  of  this  leaflet  may  be  had  in  any  quantity  by  asking 
the  corresponding  secretary,  281  Fourth  Avenue,  New 
York,  for  leaflet  No.  709 

(5)  Jun , 1912,  G P.  3m 


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